Darren Thompson hopes to reach $1 billion to enter the bidding process for the Maple Leafs. Will the corporate world back his dream?

Darren Thompson, pictured here at his Leduc, Alta., home before his Toronto visit, says anyone skeptical of his 'Own the Leafs' plan is welcome to meet him at a meet-and-greet on Wednesday night.

By:Mark ZwolinskiSports Reporter, Published on Thu Apr 14 2011

The dream to pull together a fan group to buy the Toronto Maple Leafs is coming into focus, its founder says.

Darren Thompson, the 35-year-old Alberta resident who created the website “Own the Leafs” in March, landed in Toronto on a red-eye flight Tuesday morning to find out if the corporate world will take his venture seriously.

So far, Thompson says he has attracted 7,000 pledges with a value of $100 million, and that progress helped create a favourable impression after meetings with ownership representatives on Tuesday.

“We had some conversations with stakeholders and if we get into the ballpark of what a bid should be, then they will entertain our bid,” Thompson said.

While Thompson wouldn’t say who the stakeholders were, he said he also met with banks, law firms, and public relations companies Wednesday, and now has a firm idea of the scope of the business plan he must fulfill to legitimize his dream.

“If you told me four weeks ago (when he hatched the website “owntheleafs.com”) we’d get into the offices we have now, I’d of said you were nuts,” said Thompson.

“It was a fact finding mission … it takes more than 7000 pledges and $100 million dollars for a bank or an executive to sign off on it.”

The financial aspect of Thompson’s plan is to have one million Canadians pledge $1,000 each, which would get his plan a $1 billion sum needed to seriously enter the bidding process for the team.

A 66 per cent stake in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, went up for sale last month, with an estimated value of $1.3 billion.

“These past two days were important for me to show everyone, our members on Facebook (2000 of them), the people who have pledged … that we are serious about this,” said Thompson, 35, who took two days away from his wife, three children, and a distribution business in Leduc, Alberta, to present his dream to corporate types in Toronto.

“But I want them to see I’m not a guy sitting in a corporate tower with no time for anyone. I’m a fan with a dream like everyone else and you can come and sit with me in a bar.”

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